The invention broadly relates to drop lights, and more particularly, to new and improved drop light apparatus allowing selective rotation of the drop light housing with respect to its anchor point when the drop light is suspended from a fixed overhead anchor point.
Drop lights are utilized to provide illumination in areas where conventional overhead lighting is unavailable, e.g., under the hood of a car. A typical drop light comprises a generally cylindrical housing having a hook extending from one end thereof adapted to suspend the drop light from a convenient overhead structure. The drop light housing comprises an opaque light shield/reflector in combination with a caged open front wherethrough a light bulb positioned in the center of the housing emits light. Absent means to rotate the housing about the hook, the drop light must be removed and re-suspended at a different angle each time the user desires the direction of light emission to change.
Rotatably adjustable drop light assemblies are known in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,298,922, issued to Hardwick on Nov. 3, 1981, discloses a somewhat overly complicated mechanism using spring biased detent balls to achieve selective rotary motion of the drop light housing relative to the suspension hook. U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,120, issued to Lacinski on Dec. 8, 1981, discloses a housing provided with an annular ring extending from and spaced above the top surface of the housing, the ring having a plurality of uniformly spaced, radially extending serrations on the bottom surface thereof facing the housing. An adapter which depends from an anchoring hook has a corresponding plurality of radially extending serrations on a top surface thereof and is positioned about the housing annular ring such that the serrations on each ring engage each other when the light is suspended from an anchor point. To rotate the housing with respect to the adapter and anchor point, the adapter and the housing are manually moved toward each other by lifting the suspended housing which disengages the rings. Upon release, the rings re-engage at the desired rotational angle. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,321,660 to Sakol; 3,755,668 to Moreschini; 4,581,688 to Trygar; and 4,369,487 to Carlow; disclose yet further types of rotational drop light assemblies.
The above cited references employ overly complicated structures to achieve selective rotation of the light shield relative to the anchor point which would seemingly be costly to manufacture.
It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide a rotatably adjustable drop light which is extremely simple and quick to operate.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a rotatably adjustable drop light which is simple in construction and has a minimum of parts, and which is otherwise economically attractive.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide apparatus for the selective rotation of a drop light housing about a fixed anchor point which apparatus may be easily retro-fitted to existing drop light assemblies.
Other objects will in part be obvious and in part appear hereinafter.